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Large Mouth Military Canteen

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I was watching a show on Marine mountain training on the Military channel the other day. The Marines were using what looked like a regular plastic GI canteen, but it had a large mouth and a blue lid that looked like a Nalgene lid. Anybody familiar with these??

I was watching a show on Marine mountain training on the Military channel the other day. The Marines were using what looked like a regular plastic GI canteen, but it had a large mouth and a blue lid that looked like a Nalgene lid. Anybody familiar with these??

They were experimental and as far as I know, they never went into production beyond that initial amount. I remember seeing some pop up on some tactical forum websites.

wide mouth GI canteen

I saw the show about USMC survival training and saw the canteens you mention. I looked all over the web and could not find them. So I made one and I like it !

I took a Nalgene 32 oz wide mouth HDPE bottle, (not the lexan model). I filled the bottle about half full with boiling water which softened the plastic and then stuffed the bottle into my GI canteen cup. I Then poured out the hot water and re-filled with cool water. The bottle now slides in and out of the cup just fine.

The bottle and canteen cup fit in a MOLLE canteen pouch made by TRU-SPEC which I bought from Brigade Quartermaster.

I also replaced the factory furnished bottle cap with a unit made by "Humangear" called the Capcap.

Sawc302, now that's a great idea! I like the fact that the canteen cups are larger than the Space Saver cups, and lighter too when you get the aluminum version. Plus you can get a solid fuel stove for the canteen cup. Any pics? This may be my next project!

Sawc302, that is a great idea and i'm going to try it later tonight. Thanks for the tip. Have you guys checked out the Nato water bottle sold by bestglide.com? I own two and they are great canteens. They have a wide mouth top and fit into the crusader canteen cup. I don't know if they fit into the standard GI canteen cup though.

A lexan Nalgene bottle (which is much better than that canteen) goes for about $8-10, a GSI Space Saver Cup goes for about $9, and an Esbit stove goes for $10-12 with a few fire tabs. It does include a lid, which is definitely a bonus to have, although a piece of aluminum foil costs next to nothing, is nearly weightless and last me multiple trips. The Zulu bag is a nice idea, but it's too bad that it doesn't include a pouch on there so that it can be made into a nice compact survival kit, or at least some PALS ladders so that you can attach MOLLE pouches. At least with a Nalgene you can get carriers like the Maxpedition and the rip off by Condor.

I've seen a lexan canteen at REI. Does anyone know if this fits a canteen cup?

Sawc302, that is a great idea and i'm going to try it later tonight. Thanks for the tip. Have you guys checked out the Nato water bottle sold by bestglide.com? I own two and they are great canteens. They have a wide mouth top and fit into the crusader canteen cup. I don't know if they fit into the standard GI canteen cup though.

58 pattern UK canteen is a different shape to the US GI canteen, and will not fit the GI cup.

I have a 58 pattern bottle (actually a copy, but it's identical in size and shape) and a dutch canteen mug (effectively a slightly scaled down version of the US model) and I can fit the water bottle, base first, into the mug. it's a fairly tight fit, but it's not impossible.
I've never tried it up the other way, but I dare say it would still work just fine.

edit: just tried it, the dutch mugs will fit over the 58patt bottles just fine, so I see no reason why the american ones shouldn't.

I have a 58 pattern bottle (actually a copy, but it's identical in size and shape) and a dutch canteen mug (effectively a slightly scaled down version of the US model) and I can fit the water bottle, base first, into the mug. it's a fairly tight fit, but it's not impossible.
I've never tried it up the other way, but I dare say it would still work just fine.

edit: just tried it, the dutch mugs will fit over the 58patt bottles just fine, so I see no reason why the american ones shouldn't.

I've got a Dutch cup and Dutch and US bottles but no 58pattern! Must complete the set